Guidance

VAPC south west England: meeting minutes 18 November 2019

Updated 4 December 2024

Chairman’s welcome and introductions

Paul Cartwright welcomed all to the meeting, noted this would be Chris Francis and Phil Heavey’s last meeting and thanked them for their service over many years to VAPC SW. He also thanked Tom Coyle, Heather Smith, Irene Wills and John Yerbury for their long service. The Committee’s thoughts were with the latter and we wished him a speedy recovery.

Present:

• Paul Cartwright (PC)

• Chris Francis (CF)

• Phil Heavey (PH)

• Ash Jones (AJ)

• David Newson (DN)

• Franklin Owusu-Antwi (FO-A)

• Stephen Rowland-Jones (SR-J)

Apologies:

• Ben Bennington (BB)

• Tom Coyle (TC)

• Heather Smith (HS)

• Jeff Spencer (JS)

• Steven Turnbull (ST)

• John Yerbury (JY)

Declaration of interest

There were no declarations of conflicting interests.

Minutes of last meeting and matters arising

• Paul Cartwright to investigate ways to achieve secretary function. Secretary post covered in SW Plan. This action complete.

• Ben Bennington to organise a visit to Tedworth House (H4H Recovery Centre). General agreement about the need to raise and maintain awareness of possible long-term health issues for seriously injured veterans, which will take time to become apparent. Insufficient takers for July proposal so BB to propose a visit for VAPC members from all regions. As an action Ben Bennington is to propose a visit in 2020 open to all VAPC.

• Paul Cartwright to to raise two issues regarding pensions with Hd Vets UK. Hd Vets UK has responded to one, other was raised at Chairs meeting. This action is ongoing.

• Paul Cartwright to inform Vets UK of those requiring VAPC ID Cards. Some members had taken this offer up. Another circulation would occur once new members had been recruited. This action is ongoing.

• Paul Cartwright to write to suitable candidate(s) to persuade them to take on role of VAPC 100 rep. The requirement for a VAPC 100 rep was in the SW plan. This action is complete.

• Paul Cartwright to consult Chair of Chairs and ensure Jeff Spencer conducts ‘handover’ with new Veterans Gateway (VG) Steering Group Chair. Paul Cartwright and Jeff Spencer met Julie McCarthy in July. This action complete.

• Paul Cartwright to develop list of National Issues. A list was circulated for comment and will be ‘owned’ by the National issues Sub Committee (S-C). This action is complete.

• All were to look at Somerset report and feed best practice into respective Local Authorities (LAs). the LA S-C will take on this action. This action is complete.

• All to publicise Vets Fest 19 and look for sponsors. Paul Cartwright gave a brief summary of this event, which was well organised but poorly attended. It had potential and VAPC should continue to support. This action is complete.

• Paul Cartwright to forward Stephen Rowland-Jones’s name for Vets UK training in October. Stephen Rowland-Jones attended this training and gave a brief overview: a useful day that gives a better feel for what Vets UK is about. This action is complete.

• Jeff Spencer to provide Cornwall Show with new VAPC SW leaflets. This was done. Members were given a small batch of the new leaflets for distribution.There was a brief discussion on the new VAPC SW email address, which led to an update on communications by Paul Cartwright following the Chair of Chairs meeting. SW VAPC would volunteer to take part in a pilot study. This action is complete.

• Paul Cartwright to inform Vets UK of trend in use of companies (who charge significant fees) for Military Injury Claims. Paul Cartwright outlined the discussion held at the Chair of Chairs meeting on this subject, which also highlighted the difficulties being faced during medical assessments.

There was discussion about ATOS, whose questions were focused on stopping people claiming benefits and hence why so many Veterans were appealing and using fee-charging companies. It was noted that more charities were giving pensions advice as RBL no longer ran a full pensions advice service. Advice given by charities was not always good (RBL were good) and they were passing on a lot of casework to Irwin Mitchell (solicitors).

Civilian doctors too easily assume that Veterans with problems have PTSD. Chris Francis recommended a RBL rep that could brief the Committee in more depth. As an action Chris Francis is to provide Paul Cartwright with contact details of RBL rep and PC to invite to a future meeting.

National Activity

6 November 2019 Chairs’ Meeting Feedback

Paul Cartwright had circulated notes from the November Chair of Chairs prior to the meeting and took questions. On the subject of Veterans living overseas it was noted that there were charities such as the Royal Commonwealth and Ex-Services League who specialised in supporting veterans overseas and that there were many thriving overseas Veterans communities. As an action Paul Cartwright is to pass this feedback to Chair of Chairs.

VAPC Centenary/SW Rep

Paul Cartwright will continue to cover this post until succeeded as per the SW Plan. Paul Cartwright circulated a proposed SW theme in October (supporting effective partnerships to deliver the Armed Forces Covenant across the South West) and this will be adopted.

SW Activity

Covenant Activity

The following updated the Committee about AF Covenant work in their areas:

• Phil Heavey (Somerset) provided a contact for continuity and to keep us updated and highlighted the annual AF Covenant workshop in June.

• Paul Cartwright (BANES); Paul Cartwright had had an initial meeting with the Community Engagement Officer.

• Franklin Owusu-Antwi (S Gloucester); new AF Champion (not a councillor), focus on employment. Will circulate the ‘Somerset’ example.

• Franklin Owusu-Antwi (Bristol); now have an AF Champion who is a Councillor.

• Stephen Rowland-Jones (Salisbury) published AF Covenant material but not done much beyond that.

Following a discussion on Service Charities (most but not all are COBSEO members), agreed we should try to tap into COBSEO database. An action is to investigate access to COBSEO database.

VAPC Casework

Discussion highlighted that RBL caseworkers were overloaded. We should investigate SSAFA courses for case officers. An action is to investigate access to SSAFA casework courses.

How to do Casework in the future

Chris Francis gave some tips on how to handle casework. Action: Capture separately and distribute to Committee members.

Recruiting

Paul Cartwright updated the Committee on 2019 recruiting. There were 10 applicants, interviews were on 27 November. (Postscript: interviews will now take place on 30 Jan 20).

Any other business

David Newson highlighted that there was supposed to be an Enhanced AF Compensation Scheme (via the courts, also known as the Battle Compensation Scheme). As an action confirm progress of this scheme with Vets UK.

The meeting closed at 12.30pm and we said farewell to Phil Heavey and Chris Francis .Their parting shot was that despite setbacks and communication difficulties, VAPC still had a place and the SW Committee had done well to maintain a sense of humour! Following the meeting, the draft SW Plan was discussed.